Process of treating ore.



No. 674,594. Patented May 2|, l90l. C. J. BEST.

PROCESS OF TREATING ORE.

(Application .filed Nov. 24, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED Y ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J. BEST, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

PROCESS OF TREATINGTORE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,594, dated. May 21, 1901. Application filed November 24, 1900. Serial No. 37,565. (No specimens.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. BEST, a citizen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State of 0010- rado, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ore-Treating Processes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to ore-treating proc csses, and I have shown a device by means of which my process-could be carried out.

Figure 1 is a perspective, with parts broken away, of the furnace. Fig; 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3'is a front view. Fig. 4 is a de tail.

Like parts are indicated by the same letters in all the figures.

A is the front wall of the furnace; B B, the fuel-doors; O, the grate bars on which the fuel is thrown; D D, the ash-doors; E, the fire-Wall in the rear of the fire-box; F F, arches thrown, respectively, over the fire-box and the heating-chamber in the rear of the fire-wall.

G G are doors opening into the upper part of the roasting-chamber.

H H are lower doors leading therefrom, through which the tailings are removed.

J is a flue leading from the furnace into the smoke-stack K.

L is the rear wall of the furnace.

M is a collecting-chamber, connected with the roasting-chamber by the pipe N and having within any suitable cooling or condensing coil supplied by the pipes O O. P is an escape-flue from this condenser M.

R R are suit-able tile-pieces, which may be overlapped, as indicated in Fig. 4:.

S S are projections on the top of the arches, whichreceive the tile-pieces, but leave openings between them, so there is a free-circulation for the hot gases around and upon all sides of said arches and under the tile.

It is obvious that this device will be used in substantially the following manner: The furnace will be fed through the doors B B, so as to generate a high degree of heat, preferably about l,200 or 1,500 Fahrenheit, in the roastingchamber above the arches. The products of combustion pass out through the smoke-stack K. The tailings are removed from the rear wall L. I now take a solution made up of one part of common salt, one-sixteenth part of permanganate of potassium,and six parts of common niter, and add to them ninety-two to ninety-six parts of water and mix them until all are dissolved. Sulfur may or may not then be added, according to the quantity of sulfur in the ore to be treated. The ore of gold and silver is now crushed to a fineness of twentyunesh sieve or more. This solution is then sprinkled over the crushed ore, and the whole is allowed to remain on the treating-floor for twelve or more hours. It is then placed in a closed roasting or muffle furnace. This action, when the same is treated in a furnace such as I have described, sets free the gold and puts the silver into an insoluble chlorid. Thus these metals can be amalgamated in the usual manner by means of quicksilver on copper plates or in amalgam-pans. The result of this treatment in the furnace will be to recover a combined salt-or chemical of about the following formula: two parts sulfur, four parts niter, and some traces of gold and silver which come over in the furnace. These recovered salts may then be used to lixiviate or leach copper from its ores, and I use one pound of these salts to three gallons of water. The copper ores are not roasted. They are ground to a fineness of a twenty-mesh sieve and are put into vats holding the solution made from these recovered salts, and after remaining thus for from five to seven hours the liquor is filtered off, and as these salts dissolve the copper out of the ores the copper is in the liquor and recovered by precipitation on iron or by electrolysis. The salts which are to be subsequentlyused in the treatment of copper ores are recovered in the condensing-chamber M.

When the ore is roasted after the treatment with the chemicals, it is oxidized and the gold and silver are put into condition so that they will be sensitive to the mercury. The roasted ores are taken out of the furnace and passed over copper plates coated with mercury, where the precious metals will be separated from the ore. I

The proportions of materials used, instead of being stated as above, may be stated as follows: one pound of salt, one ounce of permanganate of potassium, six pounds of common niter, and ninetytwo to ninetysix pounds of Water. The recovered salts, as above referred to, are used to dissolve the copper out of its ores in an acidulated solution, and the copper can be precipitated on iron by electrolysis.

I claim The process of treating ores, which consists in preparing a compound, consisting of one part; of common salt, one-sixteenth part of permanganate of potassium, six parts of common niter and from ninety-two to ninety-six parts Water, all dissolved, .then'crushing the ore to a fineness of preferably twentymesh, then sprinkling such ore with such compound and letting in lie for approximately twelve hours, then roasting the same in a, muffle-furnace, with twelve to fifteen hundred degrees of'heat.

CHARLES J. BEST.

Witnesses:

FRANK B. CRAMER, M. S. PADEN. 

